­
8 ideas for story-writing in Computing — ICT & Computing in Education
  • Front Page
  • Search
    • Digital Education
    • Terry Freedman's Books Bulletin
  • RSS
    • Welcome
    • The "About" Page
    • Testimonials
    • CV/Resumé
    • My Writing
    • Published articles
  • Corrections Policy
Menu

ICT & Computing in Education

Articles on education technology and related topics
  • Front Page
  • Search
  • Newsletters
    • Digital Education
    • Terry Freedman's Books Bulletin
  • RSS
  • Info
    • Welcome
    • The "About" Page
    • Testimonials
    • CV/Resumé
    • My Writing
    • Published articles
  • Corrections Policy

What if "she" decided whether or not you got the job?

8 ideas for story-writing in Computing

September 23, 2022

There's no doubt that some topics in the Computing curriculum can be as dry as dust. But one way to engage pupils might be to have them write a short story. This could be a good way of telling whether a pupil understood a particular concept, of generating some interesting reads for the school website or magazine, and even for collaboration with colleagues.

You could also use this idea to generate some blog content -- either your own blog or your school's.

Just off the top of my head, here are a few suggestions. They all begin with the question, "What if...?"

What if...

Which of these scenarios would be the most frightening?

  1. A self-drive car could take wider decisions -- like not allowing you to go to a drive-in fast food outlet?

  2. A connected home hadn't been programmed correctly, so that there was an infinite loop: every time you entered it set the alarm for going out, but every time you went out it thought you were in and so disabled the alarm?

  3. All job placements were decided by artificial intelligence, with no human being involved in any part of the process -- except for the applicant. (I think this almost happens already.)

  4. There was no way of telling whether your colleagues were human or robots? Would that actually matter, and if so, how and why? I was once “speaking” to what I assumed was a bot in a live support chat. In order to see what “she” would say in response to an off-topic question, I asked “her” what she had planned for the weekend. The response was “Let’s keep to the topic, shall we?”, which made me wonder if indeed it had actually been a real person!

  5. Robots started to demand human rights?

  6. Most people preferred "living" in a virtual world rather than the real one?

  7. Someone who had lost their voice because of a cold was unable to log in to their voice-activated bank account to pay a ransom demand?

  8. Someone couldn’t log into their computer because their fingerprints had been burnt off in an accident.

Some of these have been covered in science fiction stories, and some are no doubt less problematic than others. For example, numbers 7 and 8 would presumably be able to be solved by having an alternative means of signing in.

But my aim here wasn't to dig out other writers' efforts or to try to predict the future, only to suggest some ideas for short-story writing as a way of helping pupils engage with some aspects of the curriculum.

One of my own short-story writing efforts may be found here: The Big Sweep. No, I won't give up the day job!

(If you already subscribe, then go to the subscribers' page. The url and password were in your welcome email.)

In Using and Teaching Computing & ICT Tags story-writing, fiction, science fiction, ideas, teaching ideas
← Lessons from the world of sports: #4 The rule of expert guidance (Updated)Lessons from the world of sports: #3 The rule of eclecticism (Updated) →
Recent book reviews
Backlist: The Written World
Backlist: The Written World

Writing was invented ‘only’ a few thousand years ago. It’s a fascinating story.

Read More →
Backlist: What I'm reading: Bounce
Backlist: What I'm reading: Bounce

What does it take to become an expert? And what can the Computing teacher do about it?

Read More →
Backlist: The Fourth Education Revolution
Backlist: The Fourth Education Revolution

The title of this book invites curiosity: what were the other three ‘revolutions?

Read More →
A book review for your English department colleagues perhaps
A book review for your English department colleagues perhaps

Some of these stories are so richly told, it can almost seem as though you’re right there with him.

Read More →
Review: Pen Names
Review: Pen Names

OK, so this has nothing to do with education technology, but we all read (I hope!). A very interesting examination of the pen names some authors have adopted, and why.

Read More →
Review: The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History
Review: The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of History

There's a really interesting section in this book about how ceramic storage of data and information is probably the most likely medium to stand the test of time.

Read More →
A book review for your biology colleagues perhaps
A book review for your biology colleagues perhaps

The subject under discussion here is how human physiology has developed in different ways, in response to different conditions around the world.

Read More →
Review: Social Media for Academics
Review: Social Media for Academics

This book is very readable, and if I sound surprised that is because it’s not always true of academics!

Read More →
Quick looks: VIBE Coding by Example
Quick looks: VIBE Coding by Example

For the time being, this book is free in Kindle format.

Read More →
Review: The Game Changers: How Playing Games Changed the World and Can Change You Too
Review: The Game Changers: How Playing Games Changed the World and Can Change You Too

Despite the relative paucity of immediately obvious National Curriculum links, teachers will find several of sections of this book to be highly engaging.

Read More →
Dig+Ed+Banner.jpg

Contact us

Privacy

Cookies

Terms and conditions

This website is powered by Squarespace

(c) Terry Freedman All Rights Reserved